CHESS#1280

The World Blitz and Rapid Championships kick off this weekend in Riyadh against the backdrop of a controversy. The Saudis don’t have a chess profile, and some mullahs believe the game is haraam.  

But the Saudis offered a massive fund of $2 million plus and the King Salman World Rapid & Blitz is part of the Kingdom’s modernisation drive. So much so, the Saudis will apparently let women play in the same hall as men, without wearing hijabs.  But of course, women players must be accompanied by “male guardians” if they go out in public.  

Will the KSA grant visas to Israeli, Qatari and Iranian  players? Relationships with those countries are toxic. Many players including defending champion, Anna Muzychuk (who holds both blitz and rapid titles), Hikaru Nakamura and Boris Gelfand are boycotting, citing the Kingdom’s poor human rights record. However, Magnus Carlsen is playing and so are others including defending champion Sergey Karjakin, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, et cetera. The format guarantees surprises. One dark horse is the new European rapid champion, Maxim Vavulin, an 18-year-old Russian unknown with a 2575 rating.

Another controversy has erupted over the logo for the next World Championship match, scheduled for  November 2018 in London. The logo is two intertwined human figures, holding up a strategically-placed (6x6) chessboard. The image has certainly attracted widespread attention. It’s also sparked puns about “mating positions” and “pawnography”. 

The World U-16 Olympiad in Ahmedabad saw Russia powering through. The Russians won their first eight matches and lost the ninth to India Red (the second string squad). By then, it didn’t matter. Russia scored 16 match points from 9 matches with Semen Lomasov taking individual gold on Board 1. India Green (15/9) edged out defending champions Iran (14/9) to take silver. “Green” drew Iran 2-2 while losing 3-1 to Russia. Nihal Sarin won gold medal for individual score on Board 2 for Green, P Iniyan won gold on Board 4 and Vaishali won gold for reserve. Meanwhile, Peter Svidler won a record eighth Russian Championship — his first title came in 1994. 

The Diagram yet again features another Alpha Zero masterpiece. White to play (White: AlphaZero Vs Black: Stockfish). The AI has a big edge in development and coordination but faces a threat of — f5. How does it cash in? 

It played 21. Bg5!! f5 22. Qf4 Nc5 [ 22.— hxg5? 23. Nxg5 Qxh5 24. g4! with Qh2 to come kills it]  23. Be7 Nd3 24. Qd6 Nxe1 25. Rxe1 fxe4 26. Bxe4 Rf5 27. Bh4! Bc4 28. g4 Rd5. Forced. 

White grabbed material with 29. Bxd5 Bxd5 30. Re8+ Bg8 31. Bg3 c5 32. Qd5 d6 33. Qxa8 Nd7 34. Qe4 Nf6 35. Qxh7+ Kxh7 (1-0, 117 moves)
 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player